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News Must Be Critical

The role of any news department is to be critical in its coverage.

We do not need fawning and admiration from those delivering the news to us.

We need objectivity that is only created with a critical eye and deep analysis of what is happening to us in the world.

One must not need include two sides for any story.  Sometimes one side lies in order to cover the truths of the other and if those lies are proffered to us as “fairness in coverage” then those providing the podium for the lies are just as guilty of lying as those inventing the mistruths.

Our major media outlets need to step away from power and politics and money and return their loyalty and protections to the people who seek the truth in reporting from them even if it means the revelation of darkness pretending to be light and blood covering bodies in pieces.

You Know You are Famous When

You know you’ve hit the Big Time on the Internet when people start clinging to you by writing about you on their blogs, sending you email and talking about you on other people’s websites without your direct intervention or knowledge.

Sometimes your fans are kind.

Oftentimes your former sycophants are cruel.

You then take the good with the bad — the admiring with the obsessed — and find pleasure and peace in knowing they are all propagating the brand, creating a buzz and keeping your name and your presence out there in the world for everyone else to read and then discover the truth of you on their own; thus creating a whole new gang of friends and foes who will willingly and unwittingly perpetuate your growing circle of fame and power.

Love the lovers; love the haters — and take no reality from either.

How Evil Propagates

Evil propagates the world over via the misled good intentions of honorable people.

Courtyard by Marriott VPN

I recently stayed at a Courtyard by Marriott hotel — the Spa King rooms are wonderful — and each room is provided with free, wired, Internet access.

I was astounded at the slow speed of my Internet connection when I first started using the Marriott provided backbone — but I washed off the slow by not expecting much for free.

Continue reading → Courtyard by Marriott VPN

Bertolt Brecht and the Meaning of White Light

Bertolt Brecht was a SuperGenius author, writer and director.

As a radical man of the German theater in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s his influence and style provide us great vision today.

Continue reading → Bertolt Brecht and the Meaning of White Light

Going Out of Print is Good

When a published book goes “Out of Print” many authors panic — they feel their book is dead in the water and stillborn on the shelf.

If you have a contract that clearly states the book returns to you in all rights and circumstances when it goes Out of Print — you have a great opportunity to take the book back and re-birth it yourself with the life it deserves either online or with another publisher.

Continue reading → Going Out of Print is Good

The Memeing of Black Bitches

Do you agree with Isiah Thomas that Black Men can call Black Women “bitches” while White Men cannot?

If not, where — in the cultural meme that grew and molded Isiah Thomas — did he learn to believe that it was appropriate and expected to call Black Women “bitches?”

Are all Black Women “bitches” by default in Isiah’s mind — or does he use that derogatory term on only those women he believes are below him in status and competence?  Is his mother a bitch?  His wife?  His daughters?

The chilling lesson of Isiah Thomas’ Black Bitches is that he sets an example for bad behavior modeling in young people who look up to him to catch ideas and inspiration from a man — A Proud Black Man — many of us used to admire and emulate.

Meaning in Translation

How does one create a context for understanding in translation when words can have a multiplicity of meanings in one language and a single meaning in another language?

Ideas require the specificity of definition with words in order to be fully comprehended in all spheres of sensation, but what happens when there is no specificity to be had in the translation of a word into an idea?

What is immediately lost?  Subtlety?  Humor?  Context?  Frames of innate understanding?

As the world crumbles in space and time how it is possible for nations — let alone people of the world — to agree on anything important that involves words and meanings and definitions that pull us beyond the universal human myth of shared beauty and aesthetic?

Oh Noes, O.J.!

Double murderer O.J. Simpson is back in the news making an unwelcome return to using his parsing of words to point the blame, not at himself, but rather at others he feels unduly influence him.

It is fascinating to watch Simpson skate and dance and prevaricate his way out of a mess while he celebrates his return to the public eye.

I fear we will never be without O.J.’s influence because he knows how to take advantage of shared semiotics and the duality of semantic communication to better only his selfish ends in life and, I believe, his self-enrichment will continue to strangle us beyond his death and into our graves.

O.J. Simpson has marked us all in the eye and ear for all of eternity and we are all the worse for his wearing.

Beware the Proclaimed Genius

If genius is born in collective ciphers then we need to be wary of those who proclaim their solitary and self-important Genius.

The Self-Indulgent Genius is a warning sign that kowtowing and deference are expected in any exchange of memes or communicative dyads — and to not show deference is to be scorned and mocked and wanted smaller.

When Genius is dealt to you — respect it and honor it and keep it quiet unless and until it is discovered by others — and always run from those who foretell their own place in history by trumpeting a quiet gift.